Gen 3 - Chapter 4: L'amour et le Bonheur

While I'd been gone getting my man, Quin had been busy working at some of the things he wanted to do as well. Such as paint a portrait of Mom, to immortalize her, since we all knew she didn't have long left. None of us wanted to think about it, but we all knew it was coming. 

When he finished the painting, he framed it, and carried it into Mom's room, crawled onto her bed, and hung it on the wall. I went to see it, and was amazed at the quality. "Good job, Quin. You should tell her." As he trotted off to go tell Mom that her portrait was done, I went to go get plasma, still kind of floating from my encounter with Marcelo. I had a lot of thoughts still running through my never-shuts-up mind, like, if he really did like me then why did he seem to only know me as Drazen's twin on the phone, but I told myself he was probably just trying to cover up for liking me in case I didn't like him. Ha! Ha, I say, me not like him? Please.

I'm so glad my Mom went back to her hobby of writing. It's so much safer than inventing - it scared me enough when Zach invented, but with Mom, well.. it was just more likely that Zach would survive getting electrocuted, being a young vampire, not a 90-some-year-old human. Of course, I think Mom had already gotten electrocuted, but who's to say she'd survive a second time?

Anyway, after Quin showed her the portrait of her, she hopped on the computer and started writing a children's book. She told me the title was 'Llamas Like Linguini'. I had to be sure to read it - it sounded pretty hilarious.

Not long after Marcelo and I had unofficially 'gotten together' - we still had yet to ask each other to be an actual boyfriend/girlfriend couple, but everyone in school could tell we liked each other - Eulalie seemed to have given up boys. Maybe she really did like Marcelo? Either that, or she was too busy focused on her new hobby - handiness. And washing her hands three times. Really, they went hand in hand I suppose - hah, I didn't mean for that to be as punny as it was.. handiness, washing hands, hand in hand.. - because our sinks were pieces of junk. She'd wash her hands twice, the sink would break, she'd fix the sink, wash her hands the last time, rinse, repeat.

"MOM!" 

I seriously think that she's just doing all these things to make me worry. Really, who ever heard of starting to exercise after you're an elder? 

"Honey, it's okay, I'm just doing it because my agent told me to-OOF!"

I groaned and covered my eyes as she nearly fell off the treadmill. Somehow, she managed to get back to her feet, though. I just sighed. I think the real reason behind it was because she was taking up as many hobbies as possible to fill up her time, because she felt a little useless now that we were all teenagers, taking care of ourselves. I tried to tell her she wasn't useless, but she still kept trying to gain new skills in nearly everything.

Eulalie also took up another hobby with her sudden interest in handiness - cleaning. She seemed to be the only one in the house that did so, too. Except me on occasion, but usually I just threw things away, she actually went out of her way to scrub the toilets and showers. Usually in the morning before school - I was pretty sure I would never understand my little sister. 

 The rest of us do much more.. fun things before school starts. Jere jumps on the trampoline sometimes, Zach mostly seems to invent anymore, Quin and Drazen both paint (Dray decided he wanted to paint a portrait of Mom as well), and I read. Though, with Zach's inventing, I panic more often than I actually end up reading. One morning before school, I had read all of the books in the house, and I decided to check the mail for the free copies of Mom's books. As I was pulling the mailbox door open, I heard a scream and the sound of electricity. My head jerked up, and my heart nearly thudded out of my chest as I looked up to see Zach getting fried by the workbench. "ZACH!" I cried, and stared in horror.
"I'm good.. I'm fine.." he replied weakly when the electricity had run it's course, and he walked over to the shower, turning to look at me. "I'm fine, really, Dahlia. I feel all my body parts, it was pretty minor. Really."
I did NOT believe him, and just glared for a moment, before pulling the book out of the mailbox. No use arguing. "Fine, but please give the inventing a rest, would you? Play a video game or something, for my sanity."
"But I want to make a time machine."
"Oh fine, just take a break for the rest of today then?" I sighed, and headed towards the basement staircase, wanting to read in Mom's room. He hesitated, and just shrugged. Never answered me. When I got downstairs and had been reading for a while, I heard a rather loud explosion from above me. Instead of letting myself panic, I just let out a frustrated sigh and twitched. It's not like if I panicked it would change if he'd been killed or anything..

When Mackenzie had quit and moved out, I kind of unofficially claimed her room as my 'me' space. It was where I usually went to write my thoughts, ponder said thoughts, or just read. It was the least populated room in the entire house, because no one ever came here. I think everyone else had forgotten it existed - it was perfect for me, though. I wasn't exactly a loner, but I did like my me time. I think it came from having someone there from birth - I've always had company. But, on the flip side, I also got lonely more easily than, say.. Eulalie, or Mom. It was even worse for the triplets, I think. Except Jere, he seemed to be off in his world more than I was.

On my birthday, that's how I spent most of the day. Reading and thinking on the bed in Mackenzie's old room - I didn't really want to do anything special for my birthday. Drazen wanted a full-out bash, but Mom refused, because our house was a pigsty and she refused to let anyone in the house in this condition - she wasn't a traditional Mom in most ways, but that was one of them.
But we were allowed to invite over a friend or two each. Naturally, my first thought was Marcelo. Drazen's was Raul, but he was busy at his own birthday bash. When it was getting close to when my age would catch up with me, I dialed up Marcelo almost reluctantly - we hadn't really shown our affection directly in front of Eulalie yet, and I was afraid she would explode at us if we flirted in front of her or anything. 
"Hi Dahlia," his wonderful voice greeted me on the other end of the line, and I couldn't help the goofy look that crossed my features. Was this man really mine? 
"Hi, Marcelo. Guess what? Today's my birthday."
"What? We've barely been together very long, and then we'll have to wait 'til we're the same age.."
"We've been together for over half a school year, and we'll only half to wait a little while for you to age up. Only another school year until then. Anyway, that's not why I called. Wanna come to Drazen and my birthday party?"
"Well.. I work tonight, but I'm sure Mom will let me go for a little while."
"Great!" I chirped, then continued, "See you soon. I love you!"
"Yeah, ditto. See you soon!" Click. He hadn't said I love you back. Hadn't he ever seen the movie Ghost?! Great, now he was probably gonna die on his way over to my house. I was a worry wart, really. I hung up, and headed upstairs to get plasma before he got here. We weren't having cake, because Drazen and I wouldn't be able to have any without getting sick, so why bother?

  
When I walked into the kitchen, I saw Mom getting a microwave dinner, and noticed, for the first time, how truly skinny she was looking. I've never thought of my Mom as frail, but.. she was beginning to look it. My heart broke, because she was so strong, mentally and physically (even if she'd only started exercising since becoming an elder); how was I going to survive without her strength? I forced a smile to my lips, and looks into her face. "Marcelo's coming to celebrate Drazen and my birthday."
"Oh! Good. I'm glad, I was afraid neither of you would invite anyone, and then I would have felt bad for not letting you have a party."
I opened my mouth to reply, just in time to hear the doorbell ring. "DRAZEN GET THE DOOR IT'S MARCELO!" I yelped, and quickly went to the fridge and grabbed a plasma a juice box. I needed to down it quick so I could cuddle with Marcelo or something real quick before becoming a young adult.

I heard Drazen head out the door from the dining room, and I tried to hear what they were saying, but I wasn't a full-fledged vampire yet, so my hearing was still only half-vampire good. I could hear vague mumbles, but that was it. I downed my plasma as quickly as I could, hoping to get to Marcelo before my age caught up with me. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to me, it wasn't to be, because Drazen's had caught up with him as soon as he greeted Marcelo. When I saw him again, I had to wonder why none of the girls at school were all over him - they probably thought, since he was BFFs with Raul and Raul was gay they were a couple. But Drazen had recently told me that it wasn't that he liked guys, it was that he didn't feel like he needed a girl on his arm yet, he was young and had several human lifetimes to find himself a girl.

Next was my turn, and I was excited, but at the same time I wasn't. I don't have to explain why. I spun into my new adulthood, and had to stare at myself a little bit. I looked so much like Mom Lyr it was amazing - and like Grandma Sean, too, evidently. I'd never met her, though, so I only went by what Mom said. I had thinned out a little around the middle - thank goodness - and blossomed out where it mattered. I really was pretty, though not in a traditional sense of the word. Unique, I suppose. I was.. pleased with how I grew up.

Marcelo left before I got the chance to even say hi, because he had to head to work. I understand wanting to get going before he was late, but.. he could have said hello, especially after not saying 'I love you, too.' I drooped a little when Drazen told me that after celebrating his birthday, Marcelo left and told him to tell me 'happy birthday', and then Drazen handed me a copy of 'Exit at Powell'. I blinked at it. "It's his present for you. I have a present for you, too! Come on." He then grabbed me by the hand, and dragged me downstairs, to what was, at one time, Drazen and my nursery. "Stand there. I'm going to paint a portrait of you to hang in the dining room with the other painting of you."
"What, are you going to have a 'wall of Dahlia' or something?"
He gasped, and turned, looking at me. "That is a great idea! A wall dedicated to the heiress of the 'Parodi curse'." he grinned at me, and winked, then started painting me.
I stared at him, surprised. He knew about the whole.. Parodi 'curse', heir or heiress thing? "You know about that?" I thought that only the heir or heiress were told about it.
"Well.. yeah. Mama Lyr babbles occasionally. Not from senility, simply from loneliness I think."
Our conversation continued like that, until he told me that he could paint the rest of it without me. I nodded, and then headed to my me place. I really should give it a name - the Dahlia cave? That just sounded silly. Anyway, I went there, and cuddled up on the bed, flopping Exit at Powell open and staring at the inscription Marcelo had written.

'To Dahlia,
I'm no poet; if I was, I would have written an epic poem based around your name and how you're far more beautiful than your namesake. But it's true, anyway, even if I can't express it eloquently or in a long-winded poem. Dahlia, I'm not good with feelings, either. But you bring about strangely awful and good feelings at the same time in me. This isn't a heartfelt gift, or even one that took much thought - anyone could get you a book, I mean, you love books more than anyone else I know - but I promise that someday, I will make it up to you. Hey, maybe if we get married someday, I'll have hundreds of years to think of a way!
I just wanted to say that I'm sorry I can't stay long at your party, and I'm also sorry I didn't say I love you earlier. It's hard for me. Just have patience with this usually-unlucky-but-not-unlucky-in-love boy.
I love you, I really do,
Marcelo.'

I guess I hadn't had to worry after all. I grinned goofily, and then started to actually read the book, though my mind was a million miles away, probably at least a year or two away too, at the prospect of marrying him. I didn't care if I had to wait a hundred years, waiting for him, I could do it as long as he stayed this sweet.

(A/N: I had to make it mushy, I couldn't help it. It just seemed to speak to me there at the end. I hope ya'll like it! Drazen gained the trait great kisser, and Dahlia gained savvy sculptor. Though, I'll mention it now, I change that last trait of Dahlia's to hopeless romantic later because she never wished to sculpt or do anything romantic for a while. It helped a lot. Aaaaanyway, I'm gonna be trying to get as many chapters out as quickly as possible so I can get to where I am because it's exciting. I'm running out of good title ideas, so I decided to go with 'Love and Happiness' translated into French. XD)